A Second Chance Pt1 - Twilight
by VioletMind
Summary: Back then, Zootopia had been that perfect place... But not today. With Nick and Judy dead ten years after they solved the famous case, now, almost five decades later, fear and hate rule among animals who see Bellwether's actions way different. What happens when two young mammals with solely different goals travel back in time, would and should things be as smooth as the first time?
1. Prologue

**Prologue - Quenched Stars**

A/N:

So this is it, the beginning of my various genres Zootopia fanfiction called A Second Chance, part one: Twilight. And no, it doesn't have anything with vampires. Thought I could state that since even my first association to that title reminds of famous book and movie series XD. It has two parts and possibly third (depending on the interest of readers, but that thing shall be discussed at its time), all posted as separate stories. At first, there was supposed to be just one part but I decided to split it in three for they are so different in genre. I'm going to state that now and every time: I would love to hear your opinion in comments, and for all concerns, confusions, misunderstandings, errors that can't be forgiven, feel free to PM me.

Warning: Major OC involvement.

Other notes: This is the second version of Prologue; the first one can be found on my Deviantart page (username Indigo 222). Let's say that the original contains a better explanation of the second part of this chapter, while the first part is nonexistent.

Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or any concepts related to it: old and new, everything presented here is for entertainment purpose only and I don't claim it as my own. What I do claim are word constructions down there and some of OCs who are yet to be introduced.

Alright, let's start.

* * *

"And then he said, 'if you can't lift the weasel, you better not...'"

The only thing Judy Hopps could do at that was smile.

Staring absently with her head turned to the right towards her partner, she was slowly giving up on all her efforts to focus on his story, happenings from the day before that she had missed, apparently. Her head was moving up and down, following vivid gesticulations of the all too familiar fox beside her, his paws in the air. He laughed and then continued to talk. But none of his words made it to her anymore.

Paws on the steering wheel of the (not so much) new ford she and her partner had earned throughout their years-long service at the ZPD, she was waiting before the crossroad for the green light, and for that time simply zoned out. She felt peaceful. And so beautiful. Starlight-less yet bright night due to city's wonderful illumination, fresh and cozy breeze coming from a half-opened window, no noise, no crowd, even mammals outside - the clock had been ticking small hours of the night after all. A regular night patrol, just the two of them.

And every once in a while, times like these served best Judy to pause the world around herself and simply admire. To lean back, draw a deep breath, smile and remind herself of how happy she was. Of things that made her happy, she didn't mean just police work. Sure, she loved her job, and still enjoyed it like when she first joined the force (though she didn't like this new tension in the city, something new, something she couldn't even put a finger at, let alone do something about it), but for now, she put that aside. She put it aside and focused instead on something else, something that, as she realized, made her a little bit more selfish than before.

Because for all her life, ever since she was just a child, she had only wanted to make the world a better place. She had done everything to accomplish that goal, it was that determination that led her to penetrate through life: to join the academy, train, to become first ever bunny police officer, and that fact spoke for itself. But now, she knew, there was something that expanded her view a bit. Something that made her try to do something to make _her_ own little world a better place. Or was it someone?

"...Carrots, you listening?"

Because, falling in love and later marrying Nick was the best thing that happened in her life. That, and something else...

"Wha- Yes, of course!" It was the first thing that came to her mind and out her mouth once she snapped back to reality, but then her eyes met another pair of quite unamused greens under raised eyebrows and she understood Nick wasn't buying it even for a moment. She drew a deep breath.

"No, sorry, lost in thoughts."

"Oh, well, that's okay sweetheart," he replied in an exaggeratingly light and cheerful tone. "If I'm not worth your attention, I might just turn around and shut up." And he did exactly that: turned his body as much as he could away from her, arms crossed over his chest.

For a brief moment, Judy wished to slap her face in annoyance and shout back something like: "You're its center alone", but knowing how doubtful he would be of that - she would need to explain herself and even end up mocked for being so sentimental - she chose a different approach.

"Nick, you have my attention."

"Now obviously," his words followed by his head moving even further away from her.

Drama queen, she thought for herself as she fought the urge to roll her eyes up. But even though, she thought, he was only playing, he was playing to be hurt, and that emotion could have been half-true. Had she really neglected him these days, she wondered. Either way, she needed to do something.

So she leaned over to the passenger's seat and enveloped her arms over said passenger, as finely as the distance between seats and the seat-belt were allowing her to.

"Nick, sorry... You know I love you"

Looking up, she could basically see the moment her words were comprehended, as one of his ears twitched and, followed by the other, started to fall back as his head moved - clearest of signs saying things were getting a bit emotional. He put his paw on her back, that way accepting her awkward waist-hug.

"I love you too..."

Hearing that she smiled in his shirt and raised her eyes up to look at his face once again. Only to see him smiling down at her too. She pressed him tighter.

"Ouch, Carrots," he cried out, "I think we're blocking the traffic now."

She rather would not let go of him, not yet, but eventually, she pulled away and straightened in her seat. Even though she knew there was no traffic that could be blocked at 3 AM. For that witty remark of his, she only shot him a half-aggravated look before glancing back at the traffic light. It was red again. Wondering how many times it had changed since they stopped, she waited a few moments more for it to turn green, before stepping on the gas and pulling into the intersection.

For three, four minutes they continued to drive in silence. It must have been a green-wave, the patrol continued smoothly, without more stops. As if. It was one of the next intersections that changed it completely.

There, it all played out in the matter of fractions of a second. To do something she couldn't, even though her peripheral sight and good, rabbit-like reflexes were working fine as always, still, they weren't enough to react, only to help her catch sight. Catch sight of a headlight-less vehicle coming at great speed from their right. It was just a blur, during which she managed to let out a mere cry of warning to her partner who was first to face the irrefutable danger before a loud, clanging sound pierced her ears and from then on, everything was dark and muted.

When she opened her sore eyelids, she failed to recognize her surroundings. Fighting the sharp pain that welcomed her body and the buzzing in her head, she tried to make sense of what had happened. She saw a little in the darkness, but the acrid smell of kerosene reached her nose, and she remembered. In her mind, the memory emerged: the driving, the deadly fear she fell unconscious with, what stirred another fear that started to form in the pit of her gut, one that pained in a different way.

 _Nick!_

She quickly turned to her right, only to see her fox lying seemingly unconscious. She unbuckled her seatbelt and hurried towards him. She thanked God, he was breathing.

"Nick, please look at me. If you're with me, do that for me," she said in a cracky voice, trying not to fall under the emotion of seeing him like that, bleeding, bruised, captivated by the crushed steel. She got no response.

 _Help!_

Carried with that thought, she moved to the front of the vehicle for the radio speaker so suddenly she earned a sting of pain that ran through her torso. The radio was dead. Cellphones, couldn't reach for them. There must have been someone. Yet the car who initiated the accident was nowhere to be seen, as well as the people driving it, only the dent on the steel. _Someone!_ Anyone...

"Help!" But the only response was silence and some lights in the distance down the road.

"Nick please," she went back to him, eventually, convincing herself someone must have noticed or heard anything. She unbuckled his seatbelt and, knowing how risky every move of his body would be, only lowered his seat to give him some space. "Please, do something, show me you're not..." her own voice betrayed her.

And there that was, a grunt. One and only grunt that came from his throat, and it was enough to give her all her lust for life back. She took his paw.

"Hold on, Nick, you need to... the help will be here soon, just stay with me, stay... please"

The paw she was holding, she felt a gentle squeeze on it. She looked at him and he was, his half-lidded eyes were looking down at her. But instead of joy, why did his gaze bring her such unfathomable sadness? The longer she looked, the more her eyes welled up.

He parted his muzzle and she could hear forming of words. But she did not want him to say anything, scared of what she might hear. She gently leaned her head to his shoulder and laid beside him. The shoulder always there for her to cry on. So warm.

"Judy..."

"No, don't speak," she said, but the next moments of silence were like breaking her, "We can't, not now, we can't leave. You know that!" sobbing "Not now, not when..."

"Live."

Another squeeze on her paw, one that made her words die out in her throat, before his paw relaxed and his head touched hers. At that moment, she knew that it was the last one. That it was over. Feeling as if something had ruptured in her heart, all that was left was deaf pain that dried tears from her eyes.

Slowly, she put her head back on his body, closed her eyes over the heart that wasn't beating anymore and enveloped his body with her arms, letting their blood mix once again. Over the pain that was taking her consciousness away, she seemed to hear voices.

"No good. We were early." the voice of a wild boar disturbed the night as one of his hoofs caressed the vehicle.

"No way. There is no way we could have known they'd stay at that crossroads for so damn long. I'd still call it a good job," rhino's reply came.

"Aww, look 't 'em. If they weren't fox and a bunny you could actually say they are cute together."

"Be serious. You think it's safe to call the ambulance now?"

"Probably. Wait. You think she can make it?"

The ambulance called in next minutes, through the empty streets at night needed around six minutes to show up on the place of the reported accident. When the paramedics arrived and uncovered the two mammals in the crushed vehicle, all they could do was share sad looks at the moving sight. They knew they would save no one that night.

* * *

-Check out the bottom for notes-

* * *

 _When I was a kid, I thought Zootopia was that perfect place,_

A street in grey, nightfall,

 _Where everyone got along,_

A mass of mammals,

 _And everyone could be anything_

Zootopia's Downtown, 32 years later

His head boiled, and his lungs started aching. His steps slowed down unconsciously but the must of going faster remained, and his eyes were still fixed to a mammal in front of him. He watched but the petite figure would disappear behind a large number of animals bigger than it, putting more and more distance at the same time. Which was frustrating. Angering. Desperate.

"Stop in tracks!"

And the young mammal could be seen threading his way through the busy street, causing some outcries and getting quite a few dark looks from the mammals pushed aside. But the figure would not mind them. The figure with grey, wolflike face with fierce eyes, clearly one in distress continued going through the mass that seemed to separate for him, on the edge of running. He would put his paws in the pockets of his long coat that not differed much from his fur, like searching for something, and then take them out empty, as if changing his mind.

It was his mind that was giving him trouble at that moment, and all he was able to do about it was stay by the side and scream inside himself, or feel like screaming at last: "Not the time!" But as much as he suppressed it, tried to think about something else, to come up with a way to cut the way of his aim short or at least reduce the distance between them, they were still there.

The things he knew but didn't think of.

Things he didn't think of, but existed nonetheless.

A long time had passed without the former heroes of Zootopia, long time since the accident that took lives of both the fox and the bunny. Long time since their burial, for as everything they did during their lives while they had known each other, they were doing together. And they were buried along with all the honors worth citizens who not only served the city faithfully for years as police officers, but also with words of praise for that one time they helped mend the broken city. Many teary eyes, picked flowers, speeches, of which so many genuine.

Funny thing, as if the world they knew died with them.

The headlights of the light, humming cars blinded the young mammal on the tracks. Their horn's tooting filled the air. Yet he saw the only thing his eyes wanted to see: the shadow that was already on another side of the road. _Stupid._ He had been stupid enough to give himself away and now, he knew, he was suffering the consequences. If only he could end this fastly...

When they once had seen how easy it had been to turn animals against one another the way Bellwether did with predator and prey, some went her steps. And fear, fear always worked, so they created fear, insecurity, spread heat among mammals. Sometimes they attacked logic, sometimes hearts.

The stream of mammals moved on, he was the one to stop dead in tracks once he realized he did not see anyone in front of him no more. His mind racing, he had made attempts to recollect himself, before breaking into a run. Still nothing. Went back. Turned to the left, right. Somewhere at that time noticed the overpass he was on. With undying a sense of dread and panic, he rushed to lean over its banister and to take a look at the road down. His lungs let out air he was not aware he had been holding, from relief.

He climbed down to the road below using stairs less and gravity more...

"Is there a real reason for our fear of predators, could that be something even thousands of years couldn't mend?" asked ones

"What if it's in their nature to fear us. Is it really a good idea to live together, especially considering all these "new proves" in every headline?" asked the others. But those behind these questions, they were never contented. Not with just having "biological enemies" against one another: they went on and on so that, one day it had come to that an antelope and a zebra failed to see similarities between them.

He had lost him... Again.

But unlike before, in the city center, now he had been in a quieter, housing part of Downtown. As panic flooded through him once again, he clenched his fists in his pockets and tried to force himself to think. Although he would not admit that even to himself, his conversance with the target was very poor. All he could possibly think of was that the mammal seemed to be on the move all this time. And was trying to get rid of him. The last time rather successfully. If only he did not choose to go right when he was made believe he should go left, now he would not be standing here with faintest of smells that told him he was on a good way.

He looked at the houses in line by the road. An explanation for all those prolongations, all those twists and turns he had had to come through to arrive here. He was being led to somewhere important. Someplace that shouldn't have been discovered.

 _Home_ , he thought before raising his head in the air, searching for a smell that would help him choose the right doorway.

In the end, the mammal metropolis went on, the way it could. Mammals continued living together but instead of previously glorified harmony, they started to shrink from one another. All because once, 40 years ago, their lives were not impacted so deeply.

Not this time.

* * *

A/N (inserted later on)

If you have read the first part, I wouldn't be any surprised if you have some, say, unfriendly opinions about me. I know I would have if I was to read something like this some time ago (I know I cried while writing). So now I've come to apologize for any possible emotional disturbance I may have caused, because now I feel kinda bad about it.

And no, I'm not a monster, and yes, I even love Nick and Judy as much as you do. And I do have a good reason for what I did. And I hope that the rest of the story would be worth it :)


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - The Lesser of Two Evils**

A/N  
General: For those comments I received for the last chapter (and, of course, favs/follows) all I can say is: thank you, each one of you means a lot to me, and... Sherlock has been here XD. As before, for any concerns, comments, confusions, errors that can't be forgiven, feel free to PM me

Attention: I must state that I have an omission in writing that results from having two versions of Prologue (here and on Deviantart), an omission that I'm unable to correct in any other way than by explaining it here. Here what that's about. When the second guy (from the Prologue) chases the first, he follows him to the rows of houses, chooses the house and entering it, finds an elevator. Goes down, believing (rightly so) that the first went there. That's it. This chapter is pretty much where Prologue left off. Enjoy:)

Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or any concepts related to it, both old and new, everything presented here is for entertainment purpose only and I don't claim it as my own. What I do claim are word constructions below and some of OCs who are basically all introduced in this chapter.

* * *

"I'm done. You can let her go now."

 _Let go._ Those words, slow and cautious, rang out so nicely in her head, but the solace they brought her was briefest moments of silence long; so brief that her rapid-beating heart couldn't even begin to hope. Besides, the grip on her body, not that didn't loosen up but became even tighter, or it was just in her mind.

"Let her go?" came the response in form of wondering, before the voice of the feline coming from right behind her ears went from amused to serious, making her stomach twist on so sudden change, and the words she heard. "I know you're smarter than that. Then you know why I can't do that. Wouldn't I be at risk of arriving at the wrong place? This way, if she means anything to you, you'll do as I told you... This very moment!"

Somewhere in between, a shout could be heard, 'Moment!,' and from then on everything was only a mass of commotion and noise. A jerk on her arm and body towards the dusty device that had lit up, the whiteness of that light like collecting everything around her. A cry of dread escaping her throat, the desperate feeling of her world being ripped out of her paws. And then, everything stopped.

She was standing, un-breathing, her eyes wide opened, like afraid of closing them and having the risk of familiar sight going away: the sight of the dim room she called home, and the friend of hers with that bewildered, petrified expression on her face that must have mirrored her own. Alone. The stranger had vanished together with the light.

She blinked, and the sight didn't go away. Her friend's arms welcomed her.

"What happened?"

"I-I don't know," her friend replied. "Think I managed to shut it before you... but I... I don't know. What matters now is that you're alright, and we can figure this out. I can, you sit down and try to relax. I'm so sorry you had to go through this."

 _It's alright, it's not your fault_ she thought, couldn't say, because she didn't feel alright, not even when she sat, more fell into a chair and moments passed by. Before her eyes was always that weird, spotted feline whose species she couldn't determine, his voice, the conversation he had been having with her friend all while using her as negotiation material. Finally, excruciated by the question _what if?_ that was constant in her mind, she shuddered, withdrawing in herself, and tried to divert her attention and find something else to focus on, her friend for example.

She couldn't remember the last time she had seen the old cat that serious and upset. Ever since the intruder had left, she had been pacing their living space, the only part of the spacious room that was free of any scientific stuff her friend liked to clutter on every other place. Her face, always so soft and joyful, was now hardened in pondering that much that her wrinkles seemed deeper than they actually were, what made her laugh lines, she had a lot, almost invisible.

They were in a heavy but not uncomfortable silence, disturbed only by steps of one of them. That lasted for a few long minutes before a sound pierced the silence. The alarm that failed to alert them the first time went off again this evening, announcing yet another uninvited guest in the elevator. Her ears perked up automatically to the sound, while her friend seemed oblivious to it.

"You hear that?" she said, her voice filling with panic, but her friend was too deep in thoughts. "Yami? Do you hear that?"

On the mention of her name, Yami finally snapped. An answer came in form of another set of ears going up, and then swift motion towards the door.

Before she could catch up with the world around her, she found a metal ingot in her paws and was standing by one side of the door, face to face with Yami on the other side, who, wordless, was pointing at her own ears with one finger, another on her lips.

And indeed, after a few seconds, she could hear the sound of the elevator door opening and the footsteps all too clearly. They were overall light, but some muffled, untypical tone followed each and was confusing that quite excellent hearing of hers, and disrupting all her attempts to evaluate the height of the intruder. Fast and firm, accompanied by heavy but also muffled panting.

Preparing herself mentally for what she understood she had to do, she gripped the ingot in her paws tight, raised it and waited. Footsteps were coming closer. And closer. She could almost feel someone's presence on the other side of the half-opened door. She closed her eyes and forced herself to focus because her being was too distracted with fear. Almost there. And...

Fearing that she swang the stick too early, she was grateful to hear the hit, but it was a sharp, metal sound, a total opposite of what she had expected to hear. Her eyes shot open and her gaze fell down to the ingot. It was captured in a much larger, what looked like paw, but sturdy, not mammal-like. More like skeleton's. With such sudden, new idea, she jolted her head up the slender figure only to meet the grey, predatory face under the hood, and the two eyes that were, as she realized later, wide in surprise.

For a few long moments, she could only stare in creature's face while slowly growing to be aware of the cold tip of the gun on her left temple. Few long moments passed before he finally spoke, breaking the eye contact, and she felt the gun sliding down.

"I'm not a fool," he said.

And then collapsed to the ground before her feet.

"You alright?" Asked Yami who emerged from behind his back with a syringe in her paw.

Eyes still locked to the mammal lying unconscious, she could only nod affirmatively.

"I'm not a fool either," she added, victorious. "Come on, we need to restrain him before he wakes up."

They dragged him together towards the nearest wall and leaned him to it. Then Yami crouched beside him and started looking at his face, tilting his head as she liked.

She also, herself, took time to observe the newcomer but from a decent distance.

Not without surprise, she realized that the mammal lying down was a boy, of not more than eighteen or nineteen at best, by her judgment. A grey wolf, apparently. After shorter examination of his face that she could describe with one word - strange, she let her gaze fall down the tall, skinny figure dressed in all grey and black not different than his fur, to what enthralled her the most: his paws in long sleeves lying on his body. As she had noticed before, there was no fur on them, no flesh either, and from the fingertips and where should have been claws, up the fingers and the palm, disappearing under sleeves his paws were of some more solid material without reflection, like steel. And the gun in the right hand. Starting to feel some sort of unrest, she raised her gaze to his face once again and couldn't help but get a feeling like he looked a bit sad in some way. Maybe in a way the line of his mouth ran downwards and his facial features looked at tense even though he was unconscious. She remembered he had piercing eyes.

Yami suddenly stood up. Seeing that, she asked her what she was doing.

"I can't believe who we got here." An old face with two glowing eyes turned her way for a moment, not answering her question.

"Wha- Who?"

"My Gosh, " she exclaimed, continuing to get excited over him. "He's like a gift from heaven. Oh, thank you heavens. Wish I believed in you."

The thought of the one before their feet being a gift from heaven unfathomable to her, she decided to keep quiet, knowing that she would not get any proper answer from her friend right now.

"All grown up..." she continued more for herself, with a puzzled smile on her face while circling around him. Then, like spotting his paws right then, she crouched down again and took one of his paws. "But what happened?"

After a while she went up again, letting him go.

"We don't have to be afraid of him."

"Wait, we won't tie him up?"

"Of course not," she replied while walking over to her desk and sitting down, "We are going to convince him to help us-"

"We are?" she interrupted.

"-Chances are on our side if he doesn't feel trapped."

Finally, her friend had been answering questions, even if not all. She was used to that state of hers, knowing it was good enough to just let her work and solve problems on her own. She didn't know when the newcomer was going to wake up so she chose a far spot to sit to and maybe continue the book that laid abandoned for the time she needed to deal with the two intruders.

* * *

He wаkened to an awful pain that started to spread in his head and pulse in his temples. He frowned, his eyes still closed, and raised his paw to support his forehead. Feeling his own cold touch, he was waiting, hoping pain would fade soon.

"Yes, one could expect a bit of a headache after the thing I've given you."

A voice that rang in his ears the next moment felt worse than any pain, making him forget about it and stopping him cold. The wave of fear went through him, the first thing on his mind to back away from the source of voice as far as far as possible. Some solid surface behind his back prevented all his attempts, what only increased his fear, escalating in panic. The second thing his panicked mind could do was to try to draw the pistols from the places up his steely wrists - it was the only conscious self-defense mechanism he had, and was failing, when but the same soft but stern voice cut him.

"Woah, easy there. You'll get nowhere going that, I've disabled your… toys. I can give it back though if you behave nicely."

Maybe for the first time then he opened his eyes up to the sight of the speaker, and that sight helped him relax his nerves the slightest bit. Still pressed with his back to the wall like cornered by angry sharks, he waited as his memory started to return. He remembered the elevator, coming down here, the lighten room he entered, then what was supposed to be hit and an unexpected threat. He started searching the room with his eyes and, finding the small rabbit who had attacked him in a chair several feet away from him (she obviously felt ill of ease from his gaze), moved his eyes back to the speaker.

The one who had, apparently, knocked him out on such a treacherous way - from behind was an old woman, a cat almost twice his size, now on his eye level because he had been sitting. She was one of those fluffy, little and extremely rare species of wild felines in her later sixties at best. Her discerning eyes even among dark fur multicolored with various tones of greys, looked at him somewhat from above, maybe wanting to appear authoritative.

Feeling out of danger and even ashamed for his previous fearful behavior, he visibly relaxed and found himself able to utter a question.

"Who are you... And what have you done to me?" he asked, and then barely getting to finish the first two questions, remembered something more important than all questions he had asked, and raised his voice while suddenly straightening in sitting position. "Where? Where is he?!"

"Wait," the cat stretched her arms towards him, trying to calm him down or prevent him from getting up, he didn't know, but it worked, "You know I should be the one questioning here since it was you who broke to my property, but I can let you get away this one time. No need to worry, he's not here anymore."

"Your property?" he was confused for a moment, "Wrong, I've followed him here and seen him enter this place..."

"That might be true, but you have no rights or knowledge to claim anything else. This is my house and he, as well as you are just intruders."

"No difference. Tell me, where is he?" he asked, growing impatient in the fear of losing track of the one he wanted.

"I can tell you, but you must ease up first. What's with that temper anyway? No one's going to run away."

He drew a deep breath.

"Tell me."

"Better. And I have told you, he's not here. And before you ask, _yes_ , I can show you where he went."

Such a sudden turn in conversation caused initial surprise and confusion in him as he realized he was completely free, while for that time the cat had already turned her back to him and started walking. If they meant to hurt him, he knew, there were already plenty of chances for that, but still, everything seemed so off that it demanded caution. With the corner of his eye, he noticed the rabbit getting up and waiting for him to go first. All while walking through the room, it didn't go past him that she kept the distance from him.

"Oh, I've forgotten your other questions," the cat said, turning around and pausing her steps for a brief moment.

"My name is Yami," she pointed at herself, "And Dana over there. You've already got to meet her," he could hear her laughing even though she was turned with her back to him again. Strangely enough, he didn't have such a strong desire to introduce himself, and noticing that no one expected that from him, made an internal sigh from relief and continued walking.

He used that walk as a chance to survey the place he was in and try to ease his almost always present feeling of dread and constant danger that made him glance over his shoulder all the time. He noticed how, what looked like living room turned into a huge workplace divided into sectors full of all sorts of stuff, which he couldn't even name all: machinery, wires, boxes, sacks, some chemistry compounds, and bowls, canisters, and even a few ancient, written out chalkboards, and papers or books - a whole library. Not everything was even organized: some things were placed on shelves or tables, while some laid scattered around in an order known to the creator only. More than once he had to watch his steps, sometimes avoid sheets of papers, go around a cluttered shelve, all the time watching the low ceiling in which he could bump his head every now and then. In his mind, he clarified the fact he learned while coming down there - ever since he had stepped out of the elevator, it smelled of moisture and mold, and the air was stuffy and too heavy sometimes for his sensitive nose.

"We're here. He went here."

Expectant to be showed a secondary elevator or back stairs or some, any other way, he was confused to be stopped in the middle of the room, without any visible way out.

"Where?"

"Here."

For that _here_ she must have earned an irritated look because she smiled and corrected herself.

"I present to you, the time machine."

If her expression was not so serious and he had not seen the things around that could convince him he could expect something like this, something extreme, he would probably be laughing. Indeed they had been living in the year 2063, but it still seemed too much. Now it only left him doubtful, as he waited for so needed explanation. He was looking suspiciously at the cat, the ' _thing_ ' they were in front of and she was motioning at, and back to her.

"I've made it when I was younger. Much younger," she started what looked like a longer story. "As an attempt to test my intellect and compete with other scientists of my age. Back then, they all debated over a way to transport a living soul from one place and one time to another, of course, desirable with a body too, by using acceleration and space compression. Anyway, they are still debating, while I found another, more natural way for such transport. By the time I finished the prototype, I realized it held too much power to be used, or even known of, so I destroyed all the papers, all data and every sign of such a project. Now I regret not burning machine along. By the unknown way to me, the one you're looking for dag out the information and knocked on my door."

He let a few moments pass in silence while he collected his thoughts.

"I fail to see how that concerns me."

"Come on now. You desire to keep pursuing that mammal, right? You can. I can enable you that. But..."

 _But_. She earned a questioning look

"I demand from you to be quick and get him before he manages to change the past because we don't know what consequences could that have to the future. Fair enough?"

"I want a grant." he snapped. "Congratulations, you have me convinced you actually got there that... _thing_ that still breaks scientific principles, but how can I be sure that you're not here to cover him up? And how can I know you won't use it against me, as a chance to get rid of me?"

"Oh boy, don't you know anything else but ask questions?" she laughed again, straightening her face in mid of it and cutting her laugh short.

"You may, " she said, "Go ahead and search every inch of this place with my permission to do so. I suggest not, because time is a precious thing which we do not have right now, only if you're quick. That would be the grant he's not here. As for another... She would go with you."

She moved one paw with which she was hugging herself to gesture towards the bunny standing behind him. That he wasn't the only one surprised by what he heard, he could tell by some kind of cry from behind. The old woman ignored it.

"I assure you she means a lot to me and that I wouldn't send her to prehistoric time just because you go there. Well? "

No, he didn't need to inspect the place once again, he had already done that with help of all his excellent senses earlier to ease his fear; now he just wanted to hear what she had to say to his charges. He didn't know what to think about the bunny going as well, though. Thoughtful, he observed at the machine before him.

"There is no way back, isn't it?" he asked, sizing up the dusty machinery in front of him that indeed looked like forgotten, only a few paw prints on the dusty keyboard indicating it was used recently, then looking the cat straight in the eyes. He swore this was the first time she was tongue-tied, but only for a moment, she recovered instantly.

"No, there isn't."

He let a few moments pass in a heavy silence, a few moments of pure expectancy from both females. When he, speaking truth, had already made up his mind.

"I accept."

"But I-" the next thing he heard after a moment of surprise was a scream that pierced the silence. The rabbit whose presence he had almost forgotten about could speak after all, he thought. She rushed towards the old woman, "You can't do this... I refuse to."

"Listen..."

"After everything, you can't just... I can't..."

"Listen to me!" the cat had to put her paws on the elbows of the somewhat higher girl since she wouldn't calm down. It looked almost comical. "I've already made up my mind. You must go. You would have a chance to live in some other place... better place. What can I offer here? A prison for another year or two, then what? Struggle in the world you're completely unprepared for and that is poisoned the way it is? No. You're going. "

And from then on he could only catch muffled speech in between hugs and probably, tears.

Pathetic, one side of him thought, while another side of him suddenly found _the time machine_ so much riveting. Objectively speaking, it looked nothing special, nothing worth so much fuss. It consisted of a set of rings in different positions so that they created a shape of a ball over a platform, a screen with a keyboard in which Yami started typing a few moments later. As a result, the ring lit up with a light so white he had to cover his eyes.

 _There is no way back_ , he repeated in himself as if starting to be aware of that fact at right that moment. And there was nothing he had to leave, he thought, nothing to regret leaving. Then why was there that thought in the back of his mind; that feeling that was bugging him, like he was forgetting something.

Forgetting something on purpose.

"Alright, everything's set," The cat's narrating voice snapped him back to the reality, "So the Year 2016 shall it be. Big events, tight jeans, bad music. Spring, April 29th. Try to adapt."

"You know I will be there," Yami continued, this time addressing the girl only while pulling young protegee in what they both knew would be their last hug. "I would be just younger... And much more beautiful, you'll see. But do this one thing for me please, watch over this young man."

"Oh, and two more things. A bit of friendly advice first," came the words instead of goodbye, the cat watching him meaningfully while touching her arm beneath her elbow. "Don't get involved in the things you don't want changed. That and..."

Last words.

"Inanimate things don't travel"

 _Oh well._.. He couldn't help but think that when he saw the light coming for him, swallowing it all.

 _Happy birthday, Will._

* * *

(Bonus)

 _An apartment complex all grey, and so old that the cracked paint on the walls seemed to peel and crumble off the facade as if it wasn't part of it._

 _Four knocks to the door. They open with a creak, revealing a prematurely old face with bloodshot eyes of a woman who lost everything dearest to her in her life._

 _Everyone dearest._

 _-What do you want? - she asks, but then immediately attempts to shut the door, right before the face of the newcomer. -Sorry, I don't work on Sundays._

 _-I've seen him_

 _The door about to shut stop before they hit the lock, their owner freezes._

 _\- You've seen... Who?_

 _\- Your son_

 _The old cat gave a shy smile and stepped into the house, trembling door shutting behind her._


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - An Old-New World**

A/N:

It was not until a few days ago that I've realized how our fandom decreased in number of members, and that's really sad. Sure, we are still active on some websites like Tumblr or here, ff, but that's simply not it. So I'll be dropping Deviantart, I never got any response from there anyway. Also, once again, I would like to thank everyone who has read my work and who are still (hopefully) reading it, especially who commented. Thank you, you mean the world for me. And if you didn't please do, say "have a nice day" or "it was good/boring/(insert adjective here)" just let me know you're there. I know, there were countless fics I've read through past years and didn't leave any kind of feedback because I thought it, or my opinion didn't matter. It matters!

I know I needed a small eternity to bring this chapter, bloody three months, and I'm sorry for that. I'm also sorry I must announce that the second update won't be before June - I'm studying for entrance exams for university and that's of the highest priority. Once it's settled down though, I'll try to have the fastest updates I've ever had and finish the whole fic this year. Twilight has around 10 chapters (two down, woohoo), and (try to guess the name of the second part) Night would have around 5. Can't wait to get to that. I'll try to have smaller chapters so they don't bore both me and you, plus, it would be faster.

Alright, I'm almost done with this long note, but I have one last comment, or more a remark to myself. You may have noticed my main characters are male and female of close age. But the story isn't tagged romance for a reason. Isn't that what everyone criticizes Zootopia about? "Why does every male-female relationship have to be romantic, blah blah?" So no, my main characters aren't going to be together.

(Is it just me or my writing improves drastically when there's dialogue?)

Lastly, disclaimer statement. I don't own Zootopia (obviously, I wouldn't be here if I did) nor do I own any concepts related to it, both old and new, they are all property of Disney. What I do claim are words below and OC's for whose inspiration I owe to some of my friends.

Then, on to it!

* * *

 _Oh well, a thought crossed his mind when he saw the light coming for him, ominous, swallowing everything in his sight. Happy birthday Will._

The dazzling light disappeared the same way it had come: out of nowhere and all at once, like after a press of an invisible switch. Similar to some strange, unnatural phenomenon which it indeed was, it distorted surrounding reality for the briefest of moments before leaving it alone, trembling but unmoving. Although unchanged, the reality had some novelties: two beings abandoned on the ground, left gasping for air.

The boy with wolf's face fell down to his knees and stayed that way, his back bent forward, staring in the semi-darkness in front of himself with eyes wide opened. There was a certain sense of freedom and, more importantly, relief that overwhelmed his shocked mind so the first sensation he could grasp a while later was some kind of dry and harsh, a bit artificial smell coming from all around him that reminded of lavender. Like he was on a lavender meadow. That it wasn't a meadow, he could tell once he was able to perceive things correctly. It was another room, in complete silence.

Then he noticed the second and far more important thing to him at that time, one that made him huddle and seek for something, anything he could use as a cover. He was naked. And logic and the orangish blur he saw with the corner of his eye told him his co-traveler was too. So before a light, almost undistinguishable blush could creep to his face he jumped in the side and towards the first object he could find, one he could only describe as moving and screeching. She had, apparently, done the same thing he had but to another direction so they both found themselves huddled behind short objects a few feet away from one another.

The boy who concealed his name in his thoughts finally had some time to look around the place he was at, without new surprises. Will now had no trouble recognizing the smell surrounding him - it was a smell of cloth conditioner and it was coming from all around the room because... he was in a cloth store. An empty one, though. Once he could tell things apart in the low light, he saw the shelves, racks, prices... Outside could have been either late afternoon or early morning: he could tell by the lazy sun rays on the floor and the overall brightness in the room. The air was light, sheer, and the only thing disturbing almost perfect silence was a wall clock ticking somewhere.

He found himself quite disappointed with the place he had traveled to, although he wasn't sure himself what he'd expected. But he decided to use the time and the opportunity he was given. So he started moving around, keeping his ears low, his back bent a bit, trying to muffle his footsteps even though he knew he stood no chance of going unnoticed in a silent room to ears of a bunny. He couldn't escape the feeling of exposure that followed him, not even when he had a pair of dark jeans and a sweatshirt on, so he started searching for a trench coat that, proving useful multiple times, was absolutely necessary. To his surprise, the store seemed to specialize in wearings for smaller mammals, but from what he knew, distribution on species was not characteristic of the time he was supposed to be in, even though the style of clothes alluded to some past time. That being said, he needed some time to find what he was looking for.

But eventually, he had been putting his paws in sleeves of his long, dark trench coat, when he heard faint steps from behind. Startled for a moment, he reached for his head. Good, he thought, he had the hood on.

One uncertain "uhm" came from behind. It was, however, so silent he just kept buttoning his coat, pretending he heard nothing.

"Mister?" another sound/word, this time louder. His plan to keep pretending he hadn't heard her was in vain when he snorted and gave himself away. He turned his head her way, what must've encouraged her to keep talking, although, he didn't miss slight tremble in her voice.

"Are you done?" she asked.

Respectful or timid, he wondered.

Fearful.

"You talk?" he chose to respond to her question with one of his own while turning, in what he could only hope was an elegant, movie-like 180 degrees turn. The bunny stepped back a little as he did so. And he found in front of himself one very young looking, but probably older than she seemed, orangish-cream colored bunny, he couldn't tell clearly from the darkness in which neither normal nor night sight worked. She had chosen, among so many wearings for small mammals, some straight pants one or two sizes bigger for her and a light shirt.

"I do..." she said after a few long moments that she spent throwing sporadic but intense glances at his paws. A frown had appeared on her face before it had been replaced by a look of genuine confusion. "I talked not so long ago... You heard me."

"No, that's not what... "

"Alright then," he was the first to break the uncomfortable, prolonged silence, his voice sharper from somewhat hurt pride. "Since you do talk, you can explain some things. Why didn't your... rabbit shepherd warn us on this?" He finished with gesturing around himself.

"My who?"

"Your friend." The answer didn't yet come, but that persistent puzzled look on her face told him he had to repeat his question. "Why couldn't she warn us on this?"

"On what?"

"For God's sake, we came without a stitch on!" he didn't have the intention to raise his voice but she apparently had her ways to annoy him.

Finally, understanding seemed to dawn on her face.

"She did, she said that inanimate things didn't travel."

"How does one pay attention to that?"

She raised her shoulders slowly without saying anything.

"So, who are you?" she asked, breaking the silence that settled once again, and his face got a sullen expression.

He put the leather gloves on, ones he had taken from the shelf by the cash register, stopping that way her unpleasant goggling. He concluded that she had been afraid of his paws, or his guns that he didn't know what had happened to, which was put on now a quite long list of the things that were bugging him. Afraid, or in visible distress, it was obvious to him. With a note of barely visible sorrow he noted for himself. She wasn't different from any other prey he had met his whole life: afraid of predators, and disgusted by differences.

"No one," he answered in low voice.

Forestalling her answer and more questions, if she had any, and if they weren't to fall in another silence, a sound came from the storefront, one that set an alarm in his mind the moment it reached his ears.

A pair of ears were up and two heads turned towards the front doors, as the sound changed from screeching to clicking, and the two bodies moved.

Will dashed through the store, a sound of panicked breathing behind him.

There had to be another way out.

With fast glances, he looked around, but all he saw was the sea of clothes and far walls. Finally, he found the light tray on the floor and his gaze followed it towards a high-positioned window, openable only from the inside.

"Hey, there's someone inside!"

But all they could spot was a blur of a mammal disappearing on the window frame.

"What are you waiting for? Run!" He shouted when he hit the ground.

* * *

They stopped when she couldn't run anymore, and after one last glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was running behind, Will decided he could use a break too. Nobody seemed to be after them at all, but nevertheless, he didn't want to stop until they entered the crowd that offered a certain feeling of safety.

They had entered an indeed unusual, but also very uniform crowd. Because what he had thought were just a few strange coincidences became a pattern - all mammals they were passing by were the same species. And now, when he raised his eyes from the ground, it met a crowd of bunnies.

It felt to him as if the time stopped. What set an alarm in his mind - a sight of so many members of the same species on one place like he was used to seeing before, soon became a soothing feeling when he saw the ambiance and understood. He was in Bunny Burrows. There could be no mistake in the rustic houses, narrow streets, and the cheerful murmur of its rabbit inhabitants in such early morning. Everything around him had an old-fashioned feel, to him like a black and white movie, or it was just been the village that lacked technology he had been used to. Even, on that matter, if not for cell phones here and there, and if he didn't know better, he would think he strayed to some older time.

"We evaded." Her statement interrupted his train of thoughts, yet he stared through his bunny companion for a few moments before he understood what she had said.

"We _ran away_ ," he answered finally, stressing _ran away_ on purpose, and started to walk in some kind of promenade, or, as he noted later, open-air market.

"Can you at least share with me your name?" she asked when she caught up with him, politely.

"No, it's not important. Alright? Stop sticking your nose where it shouldn't be," he answered in a sharp tone, giving her an intense glare that made her stop in the place.

"I just wanted..." she started again, catching up with him again, but abandoned her thought midair. "If we're going to be together, we should get to know each other," she said like drawing a conclusion, in a breathy voice that sounded like she was having trouble with pace when she hadn't even recovered from the lastest running tour.

But he wasn't fully listening to her again; he was occupied with watching bunnies who chatted, laughed and seemed to truly enjoy the company of sheep, pigs or even smaller predators here and there. It was so much of an odd sight to him, confusing to such an extent he temporarily forgot about the topic he had been talking about.

"If we're going to be together..." He repeated mechanically, mumbling for himself without putting his mind to it. The moment he realized the irritation, even bits of fear started to creep on his face. His attention wasn't wandering anymore. "No, no, no. Not happening."

 _I don't want to know you.  
_  
"I'm saying, we won't _be together_. Goodbye."

The market was dense with mammals, too dense for his liking. But there was no way he could have avoided it since he wasn't familiar with the town he found himself in. So he went on through it. He walked feeling more and more like intoxicated by the smells, the cacophony, less and less taking care not to run into something or someone. It was too much noise, too much... He just wanted to get out of it. Finally, the end was discerning. He sped up.

"Wait!" The bunny of soft orange fur shouted while doing a good job of keeping up even though she needed to almost run. "Tell me why? Why are you going, what's wrong?"

"You're wrong. Alright give me reasons me why I should stay," he demanded in an argumentative tone, but still attempting to keep himself in check.

"Because it's not _right_ , to just leave," she said in a shrill voice, rather seriously looking although he thought for a moment she was joking. "After everything we've been through!"

"Everything we've been through..." He laughed bitterly once he understood she wasn't joking, looking in the side. "Everything we've been through? You don't happen to mean back then, in that shop. That's your everything? Next time it'll be just you and those wooden legs of yours"

"But we've come here to help the past remain the same!"

"Not in the contract I signed," he answered thoughtfully, and before she could ask what contract, as he thought she might do, added. "It said come, do it asap, done. Is that all?"

They were finally out of the sea of bunnies, came across a road that obstructed their way.

"But Yami sa-"

"Oh, spare me. Forget right and wrong for a second and ask yourself: can you take care of yourself for there is no one who is going to do that for you? Just, can you escape, flee, elude, call it whatever you want, so... to get away, and survive.

 _But can you, take care of yourself? -_ it could have just been his mind, he wasn't sure he saw her lips moving. It started him, but for a moment only.

"You know nothing, you don't even talk normally. Those ears seem to be just cute and not a tiny useful..."

Then he looked in her face to see what reaction he caused, but there was none -no protest, not even a hint of annoyance or offense which would be normal from a rabbit.

"I'm glad I'd be hundreds of miles away from you."

One moment, there were the two of them, the market in the back, the road in the front. The next moment he was gone.

He thought he could see from the truck he used as a temporary transportation vehicle the bunny in the crowd turning in all directions, a perplexed look on her face.

"Not right," he thought he heard her saying.

 _Nothing's fair._

* * *

Finding out that the fastest way to Zootopia was by Zootopia Express, after leaving the truck, Will headed through rabbits' village towards Bunny-Burrow Train Station, which was supposed to be a ten minutes walk through fields surrounding the town.

But he had lost so much time in a uniform village that must have looked like a labyrinth to everyone except to its rabbit inhabitants, that his journey has been multiple times longer than he thought would be. It had been frustrating at best because he wanted to get to Zootopia as fast as he could. But once on the road that, he had been sure, led towards the station, he calmed and managed to think. He passed fields in all their beauty - through greenness in the morning sun, fresh air, an earthy smell, yet he paid no intention to those things, his mind was already in Zootopia.

He didn't know what he would do once he arrived there. He was aware he knew very little about everything, and he was alone, but that was his choice. About leaving the bunny a few dozens of minutes ago he didn't think a lot; to him, it was over, done. He had his reasons for dumping her: to him she was not just a burden as he tried to convince her, but she also wanted to be a part of something that was awfully personal. Something he needed to do alone. Besides, she was in the den of rabbits, where else would be a better place to start over? That's why they were sent here and not in Zootopia, after all, he concluded peacefully.

Finally stepping through the double doors of the train station building shaped in a big, fat bunny to the pavement by the railroad, he took in the whole station with one glance. It was a rather small station compared to the number of residents of the town, with pinkish hall decorated with curved ornaments and eaves supported by carrot-shaped pillars. Aside from one large group of bunnies gathered together, the station was mainly empty, even though, according to the timetable, the train was supposed to pull in every minute. He had checked the time and date and was now tranquil - it said April 2016.

Will glanced at the rabbit assembly once, and finding them everything but interesting for the town he was in, let his mind and gaze wander again. That was, until a sudden, bright flash drew his attention back on them, or on the subgroup that was a few steps away from the rest. He watched with new interest the three figures who backed away from the mentioned flare.

He watched until his legs cut off and his normally grey face paled in color. Weak in his knees but at the same time feeling a rush of excitement in his chest he was now staring with his mouth opened, unable to move. Finally, after a few seconds he moved, or better stuttered backward without taking his eyes off of the group, and, hitting the rabbit-shaped pillar with his back, hid behind it.

Will didn't feel like trusting his eyes at that and dozens of moments later, but they weren't betraying him. Neither was his mind that found a familiar face in the group, what he was never expecting to happen. He started brainstorming everything he knew, and found the year familiar - 2016, when some of the most important things happened. He should have known. He was still trying to convince himself it was some sort of a mistake, but he knew there wasn't. There could be no mistake in that slender figure, so different than in other bunnies, bright grey fur and vibrant eyes or energetic moves. Judith... Judith Wilde, or as he remembered later, at that time still Hopps.

His eyes followed her every move, she was putting her paw in a bag, took out a small pink something.

"Terrific, everyone wins!"

The train entered the station.

"You didn't let me say anything!"

If he didn't jump out of his skin or died of a heart attack that very moment, he was sure he wouldn't ever. When he looked down he realized that the one calling out to him was no one else but an orange-furred bunny, the doe he said farewell to and hoped to never meet again.

"Just where did you come from? How did you find me?" he asked when he found his voice, and realizing he was sort of hugging a giant carrot pillar, let go of it, shamefacedly. Tables turned, his voice was the one trembling now.

"I thought you implied you were going to Zootopia," she answered, looking as if she was on a verge to say something. "Besides, the first time we met in Zootopia."

"Yes, now what do you want?"

The train was in the station now, the first call to the passengers could be heard. Middle-sized doors were opened, but no one was coming out.

He was starting to panic.

"I've been thinking," the rabbit beside him wouldn't stop talking, at length, as if they had all the time in the world. "And what you said back then wasn't right and completely true. And you didn't let me say a word..."

 _Not now_! He started finally moved from the pillar, turning around from the bunny and to the train. Then looking for the source of his earlier turmoil, and saw Judith hugging her parents, and hopping to the train. One more call to the passengers, last one. His steps turned fast. The doors were closing.

"It's not true that you don't need me."

Leaned to the closed doors, taking a deep breath of relief, Will heard a calm, familiar voice speaking again; Dana was beside him.

"It's not true you don't need me, because I know things you don't, for instance, where that... cat would come and when... he would come. On the other paw, I don't know what to do, and where to stay..." she hung her head.

"So you figured you could attach yourself to me in exchange for that information..." he finished easily, watching her now with full attention.

 _Smart_ , he thought, but wouldn't give her that out loud. He found himself quite surprised she managed to find him in the first place, and to even bring up a deal.

The option of letting her go was unimaginable now that he found out she had a piece of valuable information that could help him so much, but he had one last card yet to play. And he was, in all honesty, very interested to know what she would do.

"You thought it all out nicely, but you haven't thought of one thing. What if I grab your throat and make you spit it out this very moment," he said, cornering her and leaning in her personal space, best he could to intimidate her.

"I'll scream," she answered with a twitching nose under two wide eyes, clenched, looking as if she would indeed scream. "And you don't want that."

He followed her eyes and, turning around, looked at a few mammals behind his back. A pair of zebras in front and a few more mammals in the back immediately looked away from them and in side as he did so.

"Fine," with one fast move he was out of her personal space. "We have an agreement. You stay with me until the time comes, then I'm done with him and you're off my back for good."

"Alright."

"Without unnecessary questions," he added.

He didn't get to see her nodding because he moved away and headed towards an empty seat by the window, exhausted more than he was willing to show. It had been far too long day for him. And it was morning!

The impression from meeting the infamous Judy hadn't vanished yet, but the initial excitement he felt did, and he replaced it, let other emotion in its place, piece by piece. The hatred that was more common among mammals from his time.

What was he doing at the same time with her, he wondered. He had known that the year sounded familiar to him when he had heard it, but it never came to this. This meeting must've been a pure coincidence. The cat's wish to come to this time was also a coincidence, he concluded, convinced, because going into motives of his enemy was the last thing he wanted to do.

So he put in his now gloves paws his head that started aching, as he tried not to think about the presence of former, or better say yet-to-be hero of Zootopia with him on the train.


End file.
